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TO THE PEOPLE OF ^LOUISIANA. 



BY GOVEKNOK WM. P. ICBLLOGG. 



State of Louisiana, ) 

Executive Department, > 

New Orleaus, May 10, 1873. ) 

A partisan press has teemed with such 
misrepresentations regarding mjself and 
the government I in part represent, a 
gentleman who assumes to be entitled 
to the office I now hold has been so 
prolilic in his addresses to the public in 
advocacy of his assumptions from his own 
peculiar and personal standpoint, the 
80 called Committee of Two Hundred has 
been so industrious in the publication of 
views not only calculated to mislead the 
public in the formation of opinion, but to 
seduce it into actions that tend toward an- 
archy and further bloodshed, an organiza 
tion of malcontent and disappointed politi- 
cians, especially in New Orleans, have la- 
bored so hard to carry out their treasonable 
programme of tax resistance, with the 
avowed purpose of overthrowing tte law- 
fully established government of the State, 
the public have been so studiously pre- 
vented by the press, and what was called 
the Fusion L-^gislature, from comiug to a 
knowledge of the eftbrts that have been 
made to effect an adjustment ot political 
difficulties that ought to have been satisfac- 
tory to all, except disappointed office seek- 
ers, that in justice to myself I deem it a 
duty to address you. 

I waive other than a mere reference to 
the coalition formed with the late execu- 
tive, before the recent election, by which 
it was agreed chat as a reward for be- 
traying the Republican party, and turn- 
ing the State over to the Democracy, he 
was to be sent to the United States Senate — 
a coalition which shocked the moral sense 
of the people at home and abroad — the 
fraudulent means used to effect the objects 
of that coalition — the open and unblushing 
frauds perpetrated at the ballot boxes — the 
mutilated and fraudulent returns, some of 



them concocted i n this city days alter the 
election — the of( en repeated declaration 
throughout the St ate that the Fusion can- 
didates would be dt»,clared elected, no " 
ter whether they ^ received a m.^ 
of the votes cast "^pr not — the avowed 
intention to carry the election by 
any means — all these tlAings are so unques- 
tionable and notorious tu*at_l need ODlv_ait:_. 
peal to the candor and fconscienoe ot the 
leaders of the opposition! in two-thirds of 
the parishes of the State to confirm them. 
It is also only necessary to allude to the 
machinations of the politicians who last 
spring and summer threw away the oppor» 
tunity of co-operating with Republicans 
upon the basis of reform of State abuses, 
»r to the glaring inconsistepcy and short- 
sighted expediency of the meto who in June 
last refused to put forward the best Repub- 
licans, and educated colored men of large 
property, and acknowledged intelligence, 
but who, after forming the Fusion ticket, at 
their barbecues and public meetings prac- 
ticed social equality to guli the colored peo' 
pie into support of themselves, and into 
voting against the illustrious chieftain 
whose genius, both in war and peace, had 
secured to them the immeasurable blessings 
of freedom and equality of citizenship. 

Are men who, to gratify a lust for office, 
were ready to enter into a partnership of 
fraud with an executive whom for years 
they had denounced as infamous, who were 
willing to retain and take advantage of the 
election and registration laws, which they 
had condemned as unbearably oppressive 
and unjust, and who now band themselves 
together behind the bulwark of their wealth 
to avoid payment of their just share of the 
burdens of the government, while the poor 
are left to shift for themselves — are such 
men lit to lead a party or to administer a 
government? Is a party that can raise no 



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'ittQ 



I 



F: 



GOVEBJ^OB KELLOGG' S ADDBESS. 



' JSvilized man- 
submit that 
are no more 
and intelli- 
ouisiana than 
epresentatives 



ije of indignation against tl le barbarous 
jassaere at Colfax — no matt er what its 
opinions of its origin — fit to o overn a peo- 
ple composed in half at leatit of the race 
luaoBixorod, or is it entitled to -ihe considera- 
tion and sympathy of good i^en, to what 
ever race they may belong? 
kind will say it is not. 
these self-constituted leade 
exponents of the real we? 
gence of the white race in 
are the negroes whom the' 
murdered, and whose rMassination they 
decidedly approve. I ca fcut believe that 
a maiority of the white T^ple of Louisiana 
prefer living in harmon Mvith their colored 
neighbors, and are w J[ng to accord to 
fitf#.m their legal ^stitutional rights. 
We,3>(Med of a vain re «ance to the dominant 
party of the Unio .msi well as to the fed- 
eral adminiatrat' / I believe they do not 
wish to prolons Avar under the guise of 
^neace. But an '^olerant and fictitious pub- 
lic opinion, \ lanafactui'ed by designing 
politicians, an-B a partisan press, prevent 
them from gi' Jng expression to what their 
good sense a p. better judgment suggest. 

Firmly beli sving thati received a majority 
of the votes c^ast at the late election, and was 
elected in 'spite of the most stupendous 
frauds — a fact which many of the more 
candid FuPionists have repeatedly admitted 
to me — I appealed to the courts to assert 
my rights. While the suits were pending, 
knowing that if I could obtain access to the 
returns I could easily establish the fact of 
my election, I ottered, through one of my 
counsel, an old and distinguished citizen, 
to abide by any reasonable arbitrament, 
expressing a willingness to leave the count- 
ing of the returns to three or five disinter- 
ested and unprejudiced citizens. This offer 
was declined, and the reason assigned was 
that Governor Warmoth would not agree 
to it. Subsequently, by one of his own 
judges, a decision was rendered against the 
illegal action of the then Executive in the 
matter of the returning board. This 
judge was deposed by violence, and an- 
other judge commissioned and installed in 
his place, before the votes had been count- 
ed or any returns made; but finally 
the issue both in the federal and 
State courts was decided in favor ot 
the returning board, which declared myself, 
the Republican State ticket and a Republi- 
can Legislature elected. 

During all the excitement which pre- 
ceded my installation as Governor I was 



desirous, and at all times expressed a wil- 
lingness, to favor an adjustment, on a fair 
and equitable basis. After I was inaugu- 
rated, the chairman of the Republican 
State Committee made an offer to leading 
members of the Fusion party to seat forty- 
five members of the lower house, and a 
number of Senators. This proposition met 
the approbation of many of the leaders of 
the party. It was rejected, in part, on the 
alleged ground that we would not reseat 
the six expelled Senators who had deserted 
their seats and betrayed their constitu- 
encies by going into the Fusion assem- 
blage. 

At all times after this there was a dispo- 
sition on the part of leading men of the 
Republican party and of the Legislature to 
make any reasonable adjustment. 

It will be borne in mind that the compo- 
sition of our Legislature, alleged to be in- 
imical to wholesome legislation, was the 
strong ohjectiou made to our government. 
Without admitting the justice of this 
objection — which, indeed, ia abundantly 
disproved by contrasting the action of the 
present Legislature with that of iiast Leg- 
islatures, or even with that of the body 
styling itself a legislature which met at 
Odd Fellows' Hall, which passed no reform 
measures — we yet were willing to concede 
to the opposition such a representation as 
even they admitted would enable them, 
acting in concert with Republican members 
known to be in favor of reform, to secure 
the passage of such measures as would 
tend to correct existing abuses, to restore 
public credit, and to develop the internal 
resources of the State. The proposed 
adjustment would have given a white 
majority in both branches of the Legisla- 
ture, and, as they themselves conceded, 
would have enabled the opposition, if so / 

disposed, to prevent all questionable legis- ' 
lation, had any such been attempted, and 
to insure economy, reform and the advance- 
ment of the material interests of the State. V 
Repeated conferences were had with the ^ 

authorized committees of the Fusionists, 
at their own instance, with a view to an 
adjustment, and I believe they will do me 
the justice to say that they were convinced 
of my sincerity in desiring such a consum- 
mation. 

During the last days of the session a 
committee authorized by the Odd Fellows' 
Hall assemblage waited upon myself and 
others, and finally it was understood that a 
proposition to seat forty-five Fusionists 



GOYEENOB KELLOGG' 8 ADDRESS. 



^in tbe lower house, and eleven Senators, 
^ would be satisfactory to the majority. 






With commendable patriotism and self- 
sacritice, members of the lower house, 
-J sutiicient in number to make up the re- 
\quired forty-live, with those Fusionists re- 
"Oturned by the legal board, came forward and 
signed a written pledge to resign their 
seats in favor of those claiming to repre- 
sent their respective districts then sitting 
in the Fusion assemblage. A written pledge 
was also made by a majority of the 
Senate that they would seat nearly or quite 
the required number of Senators, in addi- 
tion to those returned by the legal board, it 
being conceded, for the purpose of this pro- 
posed adjustment, that the contesting Sena- 
tors had received a majority of the votes 
cast in their respective districts. We had 
satisfactory assurances from our friends, 
both in Washington and here, that this ad- 
iustment, if efl'ected, would be approved. 

I was well aware that my action in this 
matter would tend to bring upon me the 
suspicion of my own party, and every kind 
of discontent and misconstruction from 
both ray friends and opponents, but I was 
willing to risk all this, if, by so doing, I 
could reasonably expect to restore harmony 
and prosperity to the State. Yet, while I 
was doing this, in the interests of the 
State, certain prominent Fusionists were 
endeavoring to aegotiate a trade with 
Lieutenant Governor Antoine, by which he 
and other colored men were to desert me 
and join them. 

Right at this juncture it was insisted, 
among other things, that the old War 
moth Senators who had seceded from 
the Legislature, and had Rubsequently 
been expelled, should be restated, and 
in a caucus of the opposition the ques- 
tion was sprung that no proposition 
would be entertained that did not include 
the read mission of the.se Senators. It 
was generally admitted that several of them 
had been fraudulently declared elected 
in 1870, that they did not represent the 
districts from which they were accredited, 
that their legislative career had been such 
as gave no reasonable assurances that they 
would work in the interest of reform or 
that they had the prosperity of the State 
at heart. Yet, the combined efforts of these 
me'j, their urgent appeals to their asso- 
ciates in Odd Fellows' Hall, added to the 
votes of those who were opposed to any 
adjustment at all, resulted in the adoption 
of a resolution by the Fusion body that no 



adjustment would be acceded to that did 
not include these expelled Senators. Here 
again the influence which has been tbe 
bane of Louisiana made itself felt, and 
these Warmoth Senators, who had seceded 
from the legal Legislature, in order to carry 
out the original compact looking to the 
destruction of the Republican party, con- 
tributed largely, at least, to the defeat of 
an adjustment so nearly reached. 

An appeal to arms was made. The oppo- 
sition — though they had specifically de- 
clared, through the person claiming to be 
their Attorney General, that they only de- 
sired to inaugurate their government so as 
to obtain a legal status and make a 
case for the courts — procured arms and 
munitions of war, and made a .systematic 
effort to organize a militia for the avowed 
purpose of overthrowing the established 
government. This militia was scattered by 
the local authorities, and the next day the 
Odd Fellows' Hall assemblage was dis- 
persed. 

More recently, when the Committee oi 
Two Hundred took the matter of adjust- 
ment in hand, I met their sub-committee 
by invitation, together with leading 
men of my own party, both white and 
black, and the result was a proposition to 
seat forty-five Fusion members in the lower 
House and ten Fusion Senators, including 
those already in the Legislature and those 
returned by the legal returning board, 
with an additional assurance that there 
should be a fair hearing in all contested 
cases. The sub-committee, I believe^ re- 
ported in favor of this proposition, but the 
Committee of Two Hundred replied that 
"the proposition of compromise submitted 
to them through their sub-committee was 
not such as they deemed proper to recom- 
mend." 

It will be thus seen that all efforts in the 
direction of an adjustment have failed. 
None of these proposed concessions were 
made because we had the least fear of the 
overthrow of our government, but because 
we wished peace; because we wished to 
satisfy the opposition as far as possible re- 
garding the Legislature. If the failure to 
effect a satisfactory adjustment be a calam- 
ity, as many insist and many more admit, 
the fault does not rest with myself, 
nor with the Republican party, nor 
with the national administration. The 
responsibility lies with the Fusion as- 
semblage, and with the Fusion pre- 
tenders to office and their allies and abet- 



GOVERNOR KELLOGG' S ADDRESS. 



tors. Every effort on our part to effect 
an adjustment which would be satis- 
factory to the whole people, white as 
well as colored, was taken as an 
evidence of weakness. Charges of bad 
faith were made against acts which 
could have had no possible motive except 
to allay public excitement and restore public 
confidence. It would even seem from recent 
events that a coutinuance of agitation in a 
more violent form has been almost the only 
result of the efforts of the State govern- 
ment and of the Republican party to give the 
much needed and much desired repose to 
the people; and it has become evident that 
nothing short of the complete abdication of 
the State government will satisfy those Fu- 
sion leaders, who live upon tumult and 
keep alive dissension to further their own 
selfish ends. 

While desirous, therefore, that there 
should be a fair hearing in all 
cases of contest growing out of the 
late election, whether in the courts, or 
when the Legislature shall again meet, 
I am compelled to discard all idea of pres- 
ent adjustment, and, without turning to the 
right hand or to the left, I shall proceed 
in the discharge of my constitutional du- 
ties, as Governor of the State, until I am 
deposed or dispossessed by rightful au- 
thority. It is impossible for me to believe 
that the people of this State prefer anarchy 
to order, war to peace, ruin to prosperity, 
and no government at all, if they can not 
get that which presumes without any of the 
machinery, appliances, or authority of a 
government, to call itself the government of 
their choice, to that which is to-day the ex- 
isting government of Louisiana. The present 
governmen'; represents a party known 
to be in the majority in this State. It is the 
only one recognized by the national ex- 
ecutive. It is declared to be the legal gov- 
ernment by the courts of the United States 
and by the inferior and Supreme courts of 
this State. The Senate of the United 
States, by its action, practically approved 
it as the rightful government of Louisiana. 
The members of Congress holding certifi- 
cates of election under it have been 
placed upon the roll of Congress as 
the legal members lor Louisiana. The 
Mayor and Council of this city, the 
judges, shei'iffs, coroners and other officers 
of the city, and throughout the State, hold 
commissions and exercise authority under 
it. There is no one anywhere in this 
State, that I am aware of, exercising 



legitimate official functions as a State offi- 
cer under any other authority. The opposi- 
tion have neither the substance nor the 
shadow of a government of any kind, and 
there is not now. nor has there ever been, 
the slightest chance of their recognition by 
the political or judicial power of the nation. 
Whatever may be the Tiews of some people 
as to the de facto or de jure status of 
the present government, all must admit it 
is the only government in the State, and 
must remain so, at least till the national 
authority shall determine otherwise. Upon 
myself, therefore, and the other officers of 
this government, falls the responsibility of 
sustaining it in the interests of public order, 
and for the prevention of anarchy. The 
very men who are now clamoring against 
the State government should be loudest in 
their denunciation if we failed in the dis- 
charge of our duties and allowed lawless 
violence, such as so recently disgraced this 
city, to prevail unpunished. Disagreeable as 
that duty is, it is my purpose to enforce the 
laws and to maintain the authority of the 
State, and much as I may Hhrink from the 
exercise of harsh remedies, I feel bound to 
apply them wherever necessary. The peo- 
ple are paying their taxes, burdensome as 
those taxes were made un'^er the late 
administration, with remarkable alacrity. 
The State has already paid off $160,000 of 
overdue interest left as legacy by the out- 
going administration, and will soon, I trust, 
be in a position to pay its current coupons. 
Every dollar received for interest is scrupu- 
lously appropriated to that purpose, and 
the State officers are further endeavoring to 
restore to the interest fund, where it be- 
longs, that considerable pwrtion of the de- 
linquent taxes which by a law passed under 
the late regime, was applied to the pay- 
ment of registered warrants. The tax re 
sisting movement, though systematically 
organized, has proved a failure. In one 
district alone of the city the collections 
since the first of March have been more 
than double, the amount paid into the 
treasury for licenses tor the whole of last 
year, and the collection is still going on. 
Startling disclosures are flaily being brought 
to light of the gross inequalities and frauds 
which characterized the assessment and 
collection of taxes and licenses under the 
late administration. The efforts put forth 
to organize armed resistance in the country 
pai-ishes have been equally unsuccessful; 
and the recentlv uttered threat of the late 
executive that be would compel President 



GOVEBNOR KELLOGG' 8 ADDBE88. 



Grant to station troops in every parish 
where a disturbance could be created if he 
attempted to sustain in Louisiana a govern- 
ment friendly to his administration, has 
resulted, so far, only in the fiascos of Tangi- 
pahoa, Livingston and St Martin. 

There are three classes who are mainly 
responsible for the agitation which now af- 
flicts the State. First, a body of worthy citi- 
zens unversed in politics, some of whom did 
not even vote at the last election, who have 
been blindly misled into the belief that no 
portion of the present State government 
was elected. Second, disappointed politi- 
cians dependent upon oflice for their liveli- 
hood. Third, the men connected with the 
monopolies and fraudulent schemes origin- 
ated under the late administration, and 
whose only chance of protecting their in- 
terests, now threatened by my administra- 
tion, and of preventing the shameful rob- 
beries perpetrated upon the people from 
being brought to light lies in agitation and 
anarchy. The public disorders and the sen 
timents of ostracism and antagonism 
engendered by these three classes, aided 
by a subsidised partisan press, are a 
standing menace preventing capital and 
labor from coming here. The tide of immi- 
gration turns aside from the tempting cli- 
mate and productive soil of this State, and 
the army of European laborers, warned 
away by lawlessness and insecurity, 



passes on to Texas or the West. The 
State is yearning for the aid of foreign 
capital to renew its levees, foreign la- 
bor to revive its agriculture. But it is ab- 
surd for any community that encourages 
lawlessness to hope for the confidence of 
the capitalist or the aid i)l the industrious 
laborer. Nothing can save the State but 
the enforcement of laws that will insure to 
all citizens security in the peaceful exer- 
cise of all their rights. Prosperity can only 
come to Louisiana when laws are enforced, 
when turbulence is put down, when 
hostility of races ends, and when all citi- 
zens are willing to accord to each other 
what the law and justice and good policy 
demand. 

It is my earnest desire to establish a 
just and economical government, to restore 
public credit, to reduce the present tax- 
ation, and to promote the internal im- 
provements which the State so much needs. 
I, therefore, appeal to all good citizens 
to support me in the execution of the 
laws, the preservation of the peace and 
the suppression of that lawless violence 
which has so injuriously aftected the inter- 
ests of the city and State. To this end, I 
am determined to employ all the resources 
of the State, and to invoke, if necessary, 
the power of the general government. 
WILLIAM P. KELLOGG, 

Governor of Louisiana. 



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